3 hours ago, Khan said:

Because, those who work in this genre are so scared of losing their jobs that they close ranks, making it impossible for newcomers even to get a toehold. Gone are the days when you could cold call Irna Phillips (or her secretary) and ask whether she's needing any new writers on GL or ATWT, or Bill Bell would ask if you'd like to write a sample script for his show (Y&R) after interviewing him for your senior thesis.

THIS pretty much.

Takes me back to the days of when I would always try to get into the ABC writing program.

On 3/19/2026 at 9:57 AM, DramatistDreamer said:

was thinking that, if you look at pics of Jasmine Guy as a child, she would have a resemblance to Deanna.

Although, nobody is going to look more like Jasmine than her actual daughter Imani

I do like how Anita has (re)built a rapport with her former sons-in-law. Yes, the circumstances can seem somewhat contrived but the actors are playing their onscreen chemistry well.

I definitely see it though the actress's demeanor makes me think so much of a young Victoria Rowell.

And also true on that.

I admit that I've been so busy with some serious life transitioning that I didn't catch that Anita really has managed to build her own rapports with her former sons-in-law. That's a pretty great catch that will be interesting to see if it develops more down the road.

Max was stabbed. Did anyone from the police show up to question him? I guess they're all busy looking for Hayley's mugger, which the show seems to have forgotten about.

LOL at Smitty saying he'd protect Max. How exactly does that work?

Wow! Today was definitely a tear jerker.

I don't know who wrote Anita's little "soliloquy" when she was discussing the DNR, but that took me out. Awesome job.

Lol!

30 minutes ago, MontyB said:

Lol!

This made me lol so hard that my wine sprayed from my nose!

5 hours ago, Liberty City said:

• Rashad really is doing his best to look out for Max

Why, thank you!

I forgot to add that Iona Morris was exceptional today as well. Her and Tamara made great scene partners.

Iona Morris was wise casting to give someone for Tunie to play off in this aspect of the storyline.

4 hours ago, MontyB said:

Lol!

Hollering.

On 3/21/2026 at 9:10 PM, Paul Raven said:

ave one or two stories move at a faster pace and others bubble along in the more traditional style.

You betta sing my song!!! lol. There should always be a main story that is well paced with other stories moving right along. Something I felt they eventually started to get. Now it seems like they are just scattered again. Le sigh.

1 hour ago, Rmodelboy said:

I forgot to add that Iona Morris was exceptional today as well. Her and Tamara made great scene partners.

Totally agree. Great scenes today with these two. Tamara has my Emmy vote!

1 hour ago, ReddFoxx said:

Iona Morris was wise casting to give someone for Tunie to play off in this aspect of the storyline.

I just saw that they played sisters on ATWT.

On 3/21/2026 at 12:04 PM, Soaplovers said:

Watching the soap reminds me of when I was in college and writing short stories & episodic screenplays where the professor would tell me 'You have strong scenes, but little action'.

I truly feel once Guza jumped ship, the pacing and action declined. I can safely say that is a big difference since he's been gone for 100 episodes.

Here is the evidence:

Joey/Vanessa/Doug - For the first 150 episodes, you had Joey basically using both Vanessa and Doug's addictions to get them under his thumb. You liked Joey/Vanessa in scenes together, you also liked Doug/Vanessa in scenes together, and the stakes were high. Once Doug was killed off, we met Donnell .. a Donnell that was determined to find out what happened to his father and not being keen on Joey. Since then, Donnell has come and gone with him accepting Joey with his sister Deanna coming in for two episodes and now gone?

Eva/Tomas/Kat - Classic triangle with two half-sisters that don't like one another, A working class guy working to climb the ladder going for the socially acceptable sister while having a good rapport/connection with the other sister. You play out the beats and right after the guy and the working class sister hook up... the triangle is killed off. Tomas/Kat are a couple while Eva was spun off into another relationship with no stakes.

Nicole/Ted/SPS - The first 60 episodes built up to the bombshell of Ted having an affair with SPS in the past and having a daughter together. The sudden recasting of Ted sort of derailed the story, but the show insisted on playing out this story for a bit before finally breaking them up.. and both Ted/Nicole are in new situations with little to no stakes with SPS just being a thorn.

Hayley - For a 150 episode, there was a thread that we finally got to see where it led on episodes 150/151 where things that didn't make sense suddenly made sense, the random comments from Derek, Ashley, Jacob, Dani, Naomi.. where it sounded as if she was a new arrival vs someone that knew the family for years (i.e. Ashley). And the pregnancy/miscarriage drama was interesting.. it was almost like playing detective and/or putting puzzle pieces together. However, after we got the full picture... the story seems to have stalled though the arrival of Lynette is promising.

One big improvement:

Derek/Ashley - Breaking them up has done wonders for both characters.. moreso for Derek than Ashley. Ashley is mixing it up with the hospital crew and having good chemistry with a new guy, whose kind of shady. Derek has mixed it up with SPS (he pushes her buttons so much), Eva, Vanessa, and Naomi more than before.

However, as others have said, there is a lot of talking and little action.

I've been meaning to get back to this post but life has been life-ing. But now that I have time...while I know we have some differences in where stories go, we usually agree on so much overall. This is no difference. I totally agree.

It's rare that I get behind on BTG. Well...when CBS isn't purposely not adding episodes to my system. lol. But it has been noticeable to me that I do get behind. I also rewatch less again when I used to love to do so because BTG is the kinda of show where you can miss little things and go back and watch and then see something new.

That said...why I am still enjoying it, I feel they have lost all of their momentum. Whoever's idea it was to attempt the same technique for this year that they used for last year in terms of writing (waiting until May for payoffs while developing stories) really should be shook. What (debatably) worked last year IS NOT working this year. Worse, I feel they are doing what GH has been doing in a way. With GH...the main story that gets a lot of interest...on this board for sure...is the messy drama between Michael, Drew, and Willow. MESSY...ONSCREEN...DRAMA. When the show doesn't focus on that, it feels very 'throw something at the wall and see what sticks' IMHO. With BTG it's Anita's Cancer that appears to be the main story. And when it's not on with its well-paced self, there's that same feeling of 'throwing everything at the wall.' BUT nothing is sticking. Stuff is happening off screen like an episode of JG's Y&R. And that just makes it worse.

And it does seem clear that Guza was the main plotter on staff. That was very clear in the story of Doug/Vanessa/Joey which is why it was always the best paced of the B plots. So well-paced, it could hold up weeks of episodes without ever being an A story.

And I agree with everything said about the stories above. Love them or hate them, but the Eva/Kat rivalry had legs to run for years. Now they just snarl at each other. There are no shades of grey to them, either which is why it was so compelling. And bones of a plot was there in spite of Tomas's actor being a stick of wood.

Silk Press Sheila's storyline was the best of the A plots. And now? She's just a cartoon with no layers. Circling the mute button every week for me.

Not that this year has been bad. I had mentioned before that I do like that we do have Dupree main stories. Anita's story is of course front and center and the best paced of them all. I know I am in the minority, but I love the Carlton/Nicole/Kial storyline. And it does appear that it is slooooowwly growing into its next phase...which is overdue. The Bill/Dani/Andre storyline which was a breakout storyline last year has totally fallen onto the backburner with a little too much propped writing at one point so I'm glad that propped writing has stopped and got back to the organic writing it had that held my interest. I still don't know nor has anyone answered...did Bill drop the investigation about what Andre did a year before he came back to Fairmont Crest? Good to see the main characters be main characters, but a little bit of ON-SCREEN balance would be nice.

What I really don't like is that it does not at all have to be this way. At the start of February, not only did you have the Anita's Cancer storyline, but there were two stories getting traction...the Cotillion and Hayley's storyline thanks to the introduction of Lynette. Both were building nicely. The Cotillion has vanished for...the attempt to do last year by having a payoff waaaay in the future. And the Hayley storyline was completely derailed...including an OFF-SCREEN visit to St. Barts which would have been perfect for the climax or a new turn in that storyline. It really reminded me of when GH would get great momentum with all of its stories moving and then suddenly, it hits the wayside. Like where is the momentum?

For those reasons alone, I think Guza really was the mover in the plots and without him, it just feels like characters floating around...good characters mind you...searching for a story.

47 minutes ago, Rmodelboy said:

I just saw that they played sisters on ATWT.

I was reminded of that when someone posted of a scene of them on ATWT on Facebook.